140 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



HISTORY OF PUMPING WATER.* 



Wonderful Development of Plants for .Irrigating Purposes and 

 Their Use in New Mexico. 



BY JOHN J. VERNON ANp FRANCIS E. LESTER. 

 Neiv Mexico College of Agriculture. 



[Continued from February number of THE IRRIGATION AGE.] 



The illustration of Van Wie centrifugal pump 

 shown in these columns, also cut showing the inclosed 



Enclosed Piston, Van Wie Pump. 



piston used in thi* 

 pump, should have- 

 appeared in connec- 

 tion with our Feb- 

 r u a r y installment 

 of "History of 

 Pumping Water." 

 This was not possi- 

 ble, however, owing 

 to the fact that 



these cuts were not in our possession at that time. 



This pump is made by Irvin Van Wie, Syracuse, N. Y. 



jnnifiH J ,!i : 



Van Wie Centrifugal Pump. 



Fig. 28. Interior view of Johnson Rotary 

 Pump, shown in Fig. 27. 



The Johnson rotary pump, illustrated in 

 Figs. 27 and 28, is of the front, single-suc- 

 tion, belted type, made by the Davis-John- 

 son Company, 41 West Randolph street, Chi- 

 cago, 111. A No. 5 pump, fitted with five-inch 

 suction and five-inch discharge pipes, was 

 tested. Fig. 29 illustartes the discharge 

 thrown by this pump from a five-inch pipe, 

 330 gallons per minute. 



The results of the test are given below : F . 2g 

 Gallons per minute 322 ; speed of pump, 125 

 revolutions per minute; time run on one- 

 quarter cord wood, 4 hours 30 minutes. 



This pump was put in a second time, fitting it 

 with six-inch suction and six-inch discharge pipes. 

 There was no material change in the results. 



PUMPING PLANTS IN NEW MEXICO. 



Comparatively little has been done in New Mexico 

 in the way of irrigating lands from wells by means of 

 pumping plants. The statistics for the census of 

 1900 show that only 1,004 acres of land in Xew Mexico- 

 are irrigated from wells, as against nearly 203,000 acres 

 which are irrigated from streams. The irrigation from 

 wells so far practiced in New Mexico has been confined 

 to the few farmers who have practiced irrigation in this 

 manner from small plants when they have had no other 

 source of water, or as a means of supplementing the 

 regular supply when the latter fails, and in most of 

 these cases the plants have been operated by windmills. 

 The practice of irrigating from wells is in its infancy 

 in our own territory and the possibilities of the work 

 appear not yet to have been generally recognized by 

 our citizens. 



Although not in New Mexico, the conditions ex- 

 isting near El Paso, which is less than thirty miles from 

 the southern border of our territory, deserve some no- 

 tice. The experience of the farmers in that region is 

 of some value. Through a constant failure of the regu- 

 lar supply of the irrigating water from the Rio Grande 

 the farmers of that locality' have been compelled to 

 turn their attention to other water supplies or else aban- 

 don all agricultural work. As a consequence they have 

 demonstrated the fact that crops can be profitably 

 grown by irrigation from wells tapping the underflow 

 in the Rio Grande Valley. Some of these plants have 

 been in operation for several years past and by statis- 

 tics secured it is shown that the work is a profitable one. 

 The conditions there are almost exactly similar to those 

 prevailing over a large part of the Rio Grande Valley, 

 and it i* largely becaiise the river water has failed in 

 that region that the work of irrigating by means of 



* From Bulletin No. 45, issued by the New Mexico College of Agri- 

 culture and Mechanic Arts, Mesilla Park, N. M. 



Discharge of about 330 gallons per minute thrown from a five-inch pipe by 

 Johnson Rotary Pump No. 5. 



pumps has been more fully developed than throughout 

 the Rio Grande Valley generally of New Mexico. 



The tables presented herewith upon the wells and 

 pumping plants of New Mexico and the Rio Grande 

 Valley show comparative statistics which have been 

 secured by personal investigation and by extensive cor- 

 respondence with the owners of such plants. Some 



